


Two Twins, Dimensional Hopping

by Anonymous



Category: MapleStory
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mirror Universe, Trans Male Character, mentions of evilmageman, mentions of rhinne, mentions of the 5 heroes, mentions of will maplestory dfjbuydfkndgldfngkmfghfg, super self indulgent sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 02:26:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19122706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: The Zero twins hop through dimensions and have a meeting with a certain magician.





	Two Twins, Dimensional Hopping

A pair of twins with golden hair stood before an empty corridor with cracked, off-white Romanesque pillars lining the hall leading up to a large, arched doorway. The girl standing to the left of the door sighs, reaching up to tie her blonde hair up. Her brother swallows uncertainly, a large, wavering grin plastered on his face, as he nervously runs a hand through his own blonde hair. The ground shakes violently for a few seconds and then ceases for another interval before beginning to shake again, small pieces of rock falling from the temple ceiling above the pair. The air around them was charged with magic, and the two looked out at the scene around them, the open archways showing a dark evening sky with soft clouds and a huge crack creeping down the center of the heavens. 

“It’s breaking,” the girl says simply, and the boy barked out a stiff laugh, running both hands through his hair now. His crimson eyes are tearing up slightly, and he shakes his head, wiping at his face. 

“So, I know we should, like, have tried the whole teleportation thing before attempting to cross over into another dimension, but I’m getting a bit freaked out by the cracking sky. I’m freaking out a bit?” he says, as if it is a question. A pillar nearby crumbled and a large chunk of ceiling crashed down into the empty hall. “Yeah, I’m freaking out! To hell with practice,” he yelps, this time a statement, jumping backward as another section of rubble hit the ground a few feet away. 

“We should--” the girl starts as her twin runs past her up toward the corridor. “Alpha, wait, I’m serious! We could just freeze time and figure this out,” she shouts, Alpha waving from inside the tunnel as the pillars crack loudly and drown out her voice. 

“Come on, Beta! This place is going to shit any second now! I got this, probably,” he mumbles the last part to himself. 

Beta stares down the hallway, crossing her arms, trudging down the dark tunnel after Alpha albeit grudgingly. She emerges into a large atrium lined with tall, cream pillars and matching ancient but somehow still in-tact tiles. The sky is visible from the room’s open roof, and the dusk has seemed to reverse back to sunset, pink and orange and gold lining the clouds. The air smells of sweet flowers and a light wind blows through the room. Alpha is standing in the center of the room looking upward in awe out at the calm sky, the ascension of the moon and the descent of the sun. 

“Mom saves us again,” he says in a voice so soft it could be a whisper, Beta coming up to stand beside him in front of a larger-than-life statue of their mother on the farthest wall, the stone Goddess Rhinne smiling serenely back at them with eyes closed in rest. 

“This should be our best chance at escaping the Mirror World, since we’re most connected to our power here at the Temple of Time. Rhinne bought us some time, but we shouldn’t stay. I don’t know what will be awaiting us on the other side, however, or even what this other supposed world is like. I hope that it’s a better one than this world, or that it’s still in existence, considering this one is falling apart outside of this room,” Beta says, and Alpha grimaces in response. “Alright, let’s open a portal,” she says. 

The twins face each other and join hands, both closing their eyes in concentration. Their hands glow with a golden light, the air around them warming. A magic seal made of sand begins to spread underneath the pair, an hourglass in the center of the sigil. The room begins to shake violently, and the sky begins to crack around them as time begins to speed up again. 

“Let’s aim for the other world’s Temple of Time! There should be one there, too, if Rhinne is right,” Alpha shouts as the tile around them shatters. A loud roaring wind shakes the pair, and Alpha skids slightly before re-adjusting his footing. The sigil’s sand lines blur slightly, and Beta opens her mouth to speak but the two are already moving, and the clouds crash around them as they disappear with a zap. 

\---- 

The two land abruptly in the air above a large patch of dirt, and Beta quickly maneuvers herself mid-air to land on her feet while Alpha lands on his face unceremoniously beside her, cursing in pain. 

“This doesn’t feel right,” Beta says, looking around as Alpha stands, cupping his hurt jaw. 

They are no longer within the temple, and instead are standing in the middle of ruins. There are decrepit houses lining the broken cobblestone streets with weeds growing between the stones. A barber shop pole is split in half, and nearby is a building seemingly burnt to a crisp with charred books on the floor. There is one house farther down that isn’t completely destroyed, the circular, orange roof discolored in multiple spots but in better shape than the other buildings. 

“Is this Henesys?” Alpha asks in horror, and Beta nods, also shaken. “What happened here?” 

The twins walk down the pathway further into town, the scenery becoming more terrifying the farther they walk. There is a large tree on a hill, its inside glowing with a fire that doesn’t seem to be getting any dimmer as time passes. Beta grabs Alpha’s hand and pulls him in another direction, away from the tree, her palms clammy and cold. 

“There’s no one here. Do you think there are people in that fortress over there?” Alpha asks, pointing down into a nearby valley with a castle stronghold. “Hope they’re friendly,” he says, not feeling optimistic at all. 

The two walk down the dirt road toward the castle, the greenery beginning to return slightly; a few daisies line a riverbank as the twins cross over a bridge, but on the other side of the bank the gloomy atmosphere returns and the grass is brown and withered. A guard stands next to a gate before the fortress wearing black armor and a knight-like hood with spikes. 

“Looks promising,” Alpha mutters as the two walk up. The guard stares down at them, towering above the two; he was at least seven feet tall, and Alpha and Beta were just above five feet. 

“Hello,” Beta begins, and the guard’s eyes flash, beady and red. Beta falters, and Alpha gags as a rotten stench overwhelms them. The guard lifts his mask, revealing rotting flesh dripping off his jaw, sharp teeth lining his mouth. Alpha doesn’t hesitate as he takes his sword out of the scabbard on his hip, slicing the monster down immediately. 

“I officially hate this place, B. Let’s go back to Mirror World. I’d rather deal with a fake dream than a real nightmare,” he says, and Beta scowls. 

“We can’t go back. It’s gone. We have to at least try to find out what happened here, anyway,” she says. 

“This world is in shambles, though! We have no idea what we’re getting into, it’s completely different from Mirror Henesys. Walking into enemy territory doesn’t sound like a great place to start. We should search for those heroes we read about in the temple,” he says. 

A scream cuts through the air and the two stop speaking, immediately turning toward the source. A girl is in the middle of the clearing, a burly knight wearing the same black armor as the guard standing above her. Alpha and Beta rush forward, Beta taking her sword out and slicing through the monster with a grunt. The armor falls, black energy seeping into the ground as it disintegrates. 

“Are you okay?” she asks the girl, and the girl nods, har face in her knees. Alpha offers her a hand to stand up, and she reaches out tentatively before gripping it. She smiles at the two, her rosy cheeks framed by long, silver hair. 

“You guys are dumb,” she says, a grin stretching across her face, her skin turning pale blue. Alpha lets go and tries to leap back, but the girl’s grip is strong, and she starts crushing his fingers. 

“Ow, geez, let go freakazoid!” Alpha shouts, and Beta brings down her long sword onto the creature’s arm, severing it from her body. Her hand still grip’s Alpha’s, twisting his thumb back painfully. The armor on the ground beside them shakes as flesh begins to form underneath it, and from the ground around them in a circle sprouts more monsters, clawing their way out of the ground, at least a hundred in total. 

“This is bad,” Beta states as the nearest guard swings an axe toward her. She jumps out of the way as it cleaves into the ground, creating a gash in the dirt. Beta brings her sword down on the monster’s skull, a crack resounding through the field, and Alpha darts behind her to slash an enemy targeting her back. Another soldier charges them, and the pair are pushed back to back, desperately slashing at the horde of monsters. 

“We can’t summon a portal at this rate! We need to make a run for it!” Alpha shouts. He grips his sword and cuts through the line of enemy soldiers, Beta running behind him. Stronger creatures block a path to the gate, and Alpha belatedly notices how tall the walls around the clearing are; it must be a training field and a trap in one. Each monster they cut down another sprouts from its remains, and the twins are breathing heavily from effort as wave after wave of monsters appear. Alpha grabs Beta’s hand and cuts through a knight with his other, pulling her toward their only opening. 

“Anywhere besides here!” he shouts, reaching out, a flash of light enveloping the pair before they disappear again. 

\---- 

They land harshly on a stone floor, Beta landing on her side and Alpha hitting his face for a second time. He lets out a yell as Beta sighs, sitting up. There are transparent crystals surrounding the room, and a couple of bookcases on the walls. A teacup drops in front of Alpha’s face and shatters, and he rolls onto his back to see someone staring at him in shock. 

There is a young man sitting at a table above him, mouth agape. He has silver hair, light beige skin, and heterochromia: one red, one blue eye. He is wearing long white and gold robes, somewhat casual but obviously a mage’s robes. There is a staff leaning against the other chair, glowing faintly with blue. They blink at each other, and the mysterious boy stands suddenly, chair screeching against the tile. 

“How did you get in here?” the person demands, scowling down at Alpha. 

“We teleported,” Beta says, shrugging. The man looks at her in shock, and his expression turns back to anger just as quickly. “Sorry we busted into your floating crystal library, Mr. mage man,” Alpha says. 

“You two think you’re funny? I’ll ask again, and if your answer doesn’t satisfy me, I’ll turn you both into dust. Understand?” he says, and Alpha meets his glare, standing up beside Beta. 

“Like she said, we don’t know!” he scowls, and the gray-haired man narrows his eyes at the pair, looking between the two of them. 

“Who are you both?” he asks, visibly restraining himself from... something, but Alpha is sure that this person could become a dangerous enemy. He’s never been good at keeping his tongue in check, however, so Beta does the talking this time around. 

“I’m Beta, and this is Alpha. We are...” she trails off, suddenly unsure of what to say. Alpha bites back a sigh. 

“We’re adventurers, trying to become stronger, or whatever. Took a wrong turn and ended up here, so if you could give us directions to the nearest town that isn’t infested with ghosts we’ll be on our way,” he says. The man levels Alpha with his terrifying gaze. 

“Where were you two before this?” he asks, clearly suspicious. 

“Well, y’know,” Alpha falters, trying to come up with a witty lie. “Just were hanging around Henesys on our quest for glory, thought it was just the usual ruin but we got into a skirmish with those nasty ghost knights. You know how those guys are, all, uh, dark and evil. Found, um, a doorway that led us here. Weird, right?” he says. The other man’s eyes widen slightly in shock, and Alpha prays to Rhinne he didn’t say something that would get them in more trouble. 

“Adventurers, hmm?” the man hums. “Funny how you ended up in Henesy’s ruins, considering that town is one of the largest cities in the world, is hosting a festival this week, and is most definitely not in ruin,” he says, and Alpha slumps his shoulders, Beta smacking him in the arm. “You two reek of magic. How the hell did you end up in a possible future, and then somehow in Harmony? This is a separate dimension that only I have an entrance to. Care to explain before I blast you both to smithereens?” he asks. 

“Now, Luminous, is that how we treat guests? Surely you must sense that these two are with good intentions,” a man says, and Alpha and Beta turn around to see a floating figure, the ghost of a man with long robes and an impressive white beard. The other person, Luminous, crosses his arms defiantly. 

“Why should I help two rogue children who can’t even answer a couple of questions?” he retorts. The man frowns at Luminous, who frowns right back. “Vieren,” he starts, and the old man simply smiles and shrugs. “This is annoying,” Luminous says, slumping back down into his chair. 

“I am not a child,” Alpha says, and Beta looks around the room absentmindedly. “I am at least twenty,” he says. 

“What, you don’t know your own age?” Luminous scoffs, and Beta turns to face Alpha, who is standing silently. She squeezes his shoulder reassuringly. 

“No, I don’t. Beta doesn’t know her age either. She was locked up, immobile, since she was born, and I had my memory wiped nine times. Aren’t you happy we’re being honest now?” he says, staring down at the tile. Luminous says nothing. 

“You are both safe now, young ones. Where do you come from?” Vieren asks, and Beta and Alpha glance at each other. 

“The Mirror World,” Beta says, and Luminous gasps. Vieren raises an eyebrow in question. “It’s a world that reflects this one, created to seal Goddess Rhinne’s powers away. It shares similarities with the actual world, I assume.” 

“We already know the Black Mage is opening portals to other worlds to try to gain power, but to think he created another dimension... this is dire news,” Luminous says to Vieren. 

“The Black Mage created Mirror World?” Alpha asks, and Luminous turns to him, confused. “I thought Will had made it,” he says. Luminous looks stricken. 

“His Commander is that powerful now? Wait, you met him? How did you survive?” he asks, and Alpha smirks triumphantly. 

“Yeah, I did, and I kicked his ass real good. Beta helped too,” he adds. Luminous and Vieren look at each other for a moment. 

“This Mirror World, could you take me there?” Luminous asks, and Alpha and Beta both exchange worried glances. 

“No, it’s gone now. It cracked,” Beta says. Alpha motions for her to elaborate, and she continues “it physically started cracking and breaking after we had confronted Will and his minions. We just barely escaped.” 

“Damn, that makes this harder, then. The other heroes spotted Will recently, in an in-between dimension. We weren’t sure what he was up to, but now...” Luminous trails off. 

“Do you think he’s creating another Mirror World?” Beta whispers, and Luminous nods an affirmation. 

“Already!? His last one only just vanished, how does he even have enough strength to make another?” Alpha exclaims, and Beta purses her lips, thinking. 

“Maybe Mirror World’s time passed at a different rate than this world? Or, we landed in a different time period than intended after our accidental trip to the future?” Beta muses. 

“Do you have a map?” Alpha asks, and Luminous hurries over to a nearby bookshelf, taking a book off the shelf. He opens it as the trio gathers around the table, revealing an atlas of the world. “Yeah, Mirror World is pretty crummy compared to this other world,” Alpha mutters, “since Beta and I only saw a few of these locations within Mirror World. There was another one that isn’t on here called Shadowvale, where Will and his goons resided. He couldn’t add this cool-looking floaty place in the corner, but he added a creepy forest headquarters?” Alpha says, and Beta gently swats at his shoulders. 

“Focus, A,” she says, and Alpha goes back to looking at the map. 

“Sorry. Anyway, the locations that were in Mirror World have the same names on this map, so they’re similar, I’m thinking. We read about some of the heroes from the books in the temple, but that stuff is probably super outdated by now. I don’t know what has changed,” he says. 

“We could go and look for ourselves. Would the people be the same? There was that book that said Phantom was a hero in this world, but when we met him in Mirror, he was a common thief,” Beta says. Luminous’s eyes widen at this. 

“Out of the people you met in this Mirror World, besides Phantom, did you meet anyone named Evan?” he asks. Alpha nods, explaining how they met a young farmboy with the same name. 

“Another version of Phantom and Evan... did you happen to see another version of Luminous or myself?” Vieren asks from across the room, where he was listening quietly. 

“No, we didn’t, actually. Should we have?” Alpha asks, and Luminous crosses his arms, deep in thought. He is silent for a few moments, and Beta continues looking over the map as Alpha wonders, belatedly, if he angered the mage again. 

“Will must be unable to create a world in which there is a being stronger than him in it. A world without the Black Mage...” Luminous says, as if speaking to himself. Alpha isn’t sure what he means, and wonders to himself if Luminous and this evil mage are connected. “Evan and Phantom would never become heroes if the Black Mage didn’t exist, and I was never born... were these Mirror people real or simply conjurations? In what universes am I present, and in which am I not?” Luminous continues muttering to himself for a bit, going back to the bookshelf and pulling out a journal before scribbling down a few sentences. He hums to himself as he tucks the pen behind his ear, turning back to Alpha. “You keep talking about our world as the ‘other’ world, and I’m a bit curious as to why. You both just came from Mirror World, but where are you from originally?” Luminous asks. Alpha tugs at his collar, avoiding the other man’s eyes. 

“This one, probably,” he says, and Beta is looking over at them both now, too. “We grew up in Mirror. I don’t remember anything from this world, if I saw it at all,” he says. “When we were born, Beta and I were split into two by Will. That’s what our mom told us. I grew up in Mirror and eventually escaped, breaking Beta out of her prison,” he says. 

“Two halves of a whole, coming from a dimension where everything is the same except when it’s not,” Luminous hums again, looking back at the atlas. 

“This is very similar to your predicament, Luminous, with you being the Black Mage’s lighter half,” Vieren says nonchalantly, and Alpha and Beta stare at him, Alpha’s mouth agape in shock and Beta’s neutral expression faltering for once. “Weren’t you and Phantom tasked with a mission to find new allies? Why not these two?” Vieren asks, and Luminous nods at him, closing the atlas and tucking it back into place on the shelf. 

“These two faced Will without being consumed by madness from the dark energy he radiates, which is a feat in itself. I don’t know how well I’d fare facing him alone in my semi-corrupted state,” Luminous say to Vieren before stepping back toward the twins, standing in front of Alpha. He’s at least a foot taller, the pale-haired man’s stance relaxed but still intimidating, his eyes too sharp and calculating. 

“If you beat Will once, I bet you can do it again, especially with my power and the rest of the five heroes. So, what do you two say? Want to team up?” Luminous says, outstretching his hand with a sly smile. Alpha hesitates for a second, overwhelmed, looking over to Beta who nods her cautious approval, before gripping his hand and shaking it, feeling both deja-vu and as if he just made a deal with the devil.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this for a college class final and my prof gave me an A and i passed the course
> 
> "your consumers demand content." -my friend that dared me to post this after three weeks of contemplating what my life is coming to
> 
> also don't @ me i'm only level 160 on my zero and i don't give a fuck about canon, i just wanted to write abt if my zeros met my luminous and canon doesn't mean anything to me and never will im gay and i do what i want
> 
> i didnt proofread this and i won't and its anonymous bc im embarrassed


End file.
